numbers of persons
convicted of crimes against property, and great batches of vagrants were
dispatched there, and also many girls and women who had been hurled by
the iron force of circumstances into the horrible business of
prostitution.

These were some of the conditions in those years. Let it not, however,
be supposed that the traders, bankers and landowners were impervious to
their own brand of sensibilities. They dressed fastidiously, went to
church, uttered hallelujahs, gave dainty receptions, formed associations
to dole out alms and--kept up prices and rents. Notwithstanding the
general distress, rents in New York City were greater than were paid in
any other city or village upon the globe.[133]

FOOTNOTES:

[112] Hammond's "Political History of the State of New York," 1:129-130.

[113] Journal of the [New York] Senate and Assembly, 1803:351 and 399.

[114] Ibid., 1812:134.

[115] Ibid., 1812:259-260. Frequently, in those days, the giving of
presents was a part of corrupt methods.

[116] "The members [of the Legislature] themselves sometimes
participated in the benefits growing out of charters created by their
own votes; ... if ten banks were chartered at one session, twenty must
be chartered the next, and thirty the next. The cormorants could never
be gorged. If at one session you bought off a pack of greedy lobby
agents ... they returned with increased numbers and more voracious
appetite."--Hammond, ii:447-448.

[117] Journal of the [New York] Senate, 1824:1317-1350. See also Chap.
VIII, Part II of this work.

[118] "Letter and Authentic Documentary Evidence in Relation to the
Trinity Church Property," etc., Albany, 1855. Hoffman, the best
authority on the subject, says in his work published forty-five years
ago: "Very extensive searches have proved unavailing to enable me to
trace the sources of the title to much of this upper portion of Trinity
Church property."--"State and Rights of the Corporation of New York,"
ii:189.

[119] In all of the official communications of Trinity Church up to 1867
this lease is referred to as the "Burr or Astor Lease."--"The
Communication of the Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen of Trinity
Church in the city of New York in reply to a resolution of the House,
passed March 4, 1854"; Document No. 130, Assembly Docs. 1854. Also
Document No. 45, Senate Docs. 1856. Upon returning from exile Burr tried
to break his lease to Astor, but the lease was so astutely drawn tha